Luffy held his breath, determined not to miss a single detail.
In the eyes of most, Rowan was merely a hundred-year-old fossil. But to Luffy, his Great-Grandpa was the strongest person in the world—a figure whose status even his world-renowned grandfather, Garp, couldn't match.
Under Luffy's gaze, Rowan flicked his wrist. The stone in his hand turned into a blur that the naked eye couldn't track. Judging by the screeching wind it left behind, Luffy's heart shuddered. That casual toss was at least three times faster than Luffy's full-strength throw!
As the stone tore through the air with a piercing sonic boom, Rowan didn't move. He even took a moment to calmly puff on his pipe, exhaling a cloud of smoke.
He waited for a full five seconds. Then, Rowan finally lowered his pipe and took a single step.
"Soru: Gale!"
The moment he triggered the move, a sharp crack erupted beneath his feet. His figure vanished like a ghost. The recoil from his Soru was so powerful that the sandy ground where he had stood shook violently, and several large nearby pebbles disintegrated into dust.
"Hiss... so fast!"
Luffy gasped, his face full of shock. Even with total concentration, he couldn't track Rowan's trajectory. He could only hear the thunderous sonic booms caused by the friction between his Great-Grandpa's body and the air.
Less than a second after he vanished—while Luffy was still marvelling at the sheer impossibility of the speed—his vision blurred. Rowan was standing in front of him again.
The stone, polished smooth by the intense air friction, was back in his hand.
Rowan tossed the pebble to Luffy and smiled. "How about it, little guy? Did you see clearly?"
"No... not at all." Luffy shook his head, looking dazed.
"Forget it. I didn't expect you to." Rowan turned back to the bonfire to resume his cooking. He occasionally made small incisions in the elephant meat to let the seasoning soak in deeper. "As long as you keep training without rest, one day you'll reach this speed too."
While Rowan knew he only reached this level because the system had restored him to a peak physical constitution, he had absolute faith in his great-grandson's potential. The blood flowing through that boy's veins was anything but ordinary.
"Great-Grandpa, look! What are those?!"
Rowan had just immersed himself in the aroma of the roasting meat when Luffy's excited shout broke his focus.
"Brat, what is it now?" Rowan frowned, turning around with slight annoyance.
But in the next instant, he stopped what he was doing and flickered to Luffy's side. Bringing his pipe to his lips, Rowan—whose vision was far from failing—could clearly see a dark mass of sails on the horizon, heading straight for their island.
As time ticked by, the number of ships in their field of vision grew. In a short window, the horizon was blanketed by a massive fleet. Though the patterns on the sails varied, every single ship flew a black flag with a white skull and crossbones.
Pirates. All of them.
A quick count revealed no fewer than forty pirate flags!
"So many pirate ships!"
Looking at the massive fleet, Luffy didn't show a hint of fear. Instead, he was vibrating with excitement. Rowan felt the same, though for a different reason. Forty ships? That meant thousands of pirates.
If he took this group down, it would be explosive news in the East Blue. The Faith Points he'd earn would dwarf what he gained from Arlong and Morgan combined.
"Great-Grandpa, look! Are they all one crew? Commanding that many ships at once... that's so cool!" Luffy's eyes were practically sparkling. To be fair, this was the first legitimate pirate armada Luffy had seen since leaving Foosha Village.
"You want to command a fleet like that too?" Rowan chuckled.
In the East Blue, only one man possessed a fleet of this scale: Don Krieg, the self-proclaimed "Strongest Man in the East Blue," leader of the Krieg Pirates.
Rowan remembered them. In the original timeline, this 5,000-man armada had entered the Grand Line only to be decimated by a bored Dracule Mihawk, who chased them all the way back to the East Blue just to pass the time.
To Rowan, a "strongest man" who relied purely on numbers without any high-quality powerhouses was a joke. A fleet like this could act tough in the East Blue, but in the Grand Line, they were either a supply drop for other pirates or an experience farm for the Navy.
Since they had stumbled upon him, Rowan decided he would graciously accept the "experience."
"Heehee, maybe not that many," Luffy said, scratching his head. "Thinking about ordering all those people around gives me a headache. I just want about ten partners and one small ship."
Luffy had already set the Red-Haired Pirates' compact, elite structure as his goal. And more importantly...
How much food would that many people eat in a day? If I had that many subordinates, we'd spend all our time looking for snacks. We'd never have time to find the One Piece!
"You brat..." Rowan shook his head and pointed to the nearly finished roast elephant. "Go fill your stomach. We're going to be busy in a bit."
"Great-Grandpa, you mean..." Luffy's eyes lit up as he caught the hint. He swallowed hard. "Don't you worry! I'm on it!"
He knew a big fight was coming. The fleet looked intimidating, but numbers didn't scare Luffy. More importantly, after the frustrating loss to Jinbe in Cocoyasi, he had a lot of pent-up energy he needed to release.
I couldn't beat a Warlord, but I can definitely beat you guys!
Rowan smiled, watching Luffy tear into the meat. He had brought the boy along largely to be his "free labor," after all.
"By the way, Great-Grandpa," Luffy mumbled through a mouthful of elephant leg, wiping grease from his chin. "When you disappeared for a while earlier, did you go back to Cocoyasi to talk to Nami for me? To convince her to join?"
Luffy hadn't given up. Even if I'm not a Marine like you wanted, I'm still your great-grandson. You wouldn't hold a grudge against a kid, right?
"Brat, you really want that girl as your navigator that badly?" Rowan asked seriously.
"Heehee, of course!" Luffy nodded like a woodpecker. A navigator of that caliber was a once-in-a-lifetime find.
"Well, since you're so set on a great navigator... how about I be your Vice-Captain once you officially set sail?" Rowan asked.
"Huh?! Great-Grandpa wants to be my Vice-Captain?!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
⭐ Read chapters early on Patreon → https://www.patreon.com/Bagga_10 ⭐
BONUS CHAPTER REWARDS
• Every 20 reviews = 1 bonus chapter
• Every 50 Power Stones = 1 bonus chapter
Your support directly unlocks more content and faster releases.